Misogyny Wars
The Misogyny Wars, so named by Massimo Piglucci in a post The misogyny wars on Rationally Speaking, are a series of controversies related to misogyny and feminism which we have to deal with in atheist and skeptic communities. This page tries to track this ongoing military campaign and the part PZ Myers plays there. Harassment in the skeptic community We know there are men connected with the skeptical community who aren't respectful of women, here's PZ on one amazing character. The not-so-Amazing Atheist self-immolates. Sadly there are other men who make problems for women online Goodbye for now and the evidence is clear to anyone who looks at various unpleasant websites. #So what should we assume? #Should we assume when those skeptical community rogues meet women offline they stop unpleasantness and behave with total respect and chivalry? #Should we assume none of the difficult men or other likeminded men ever attend atheist conferences? #Should we assume everybody at atheist conferences desists from any bad behaviour that may have happened online? #Should we assume even after spending a long time at a bar no man at any atheist conference ever says anything inept, nerdish or malicious to any woman? #If you really imagine all that what planet have you been living on? We can't always tell definitively which complaints are true and which aren't but overall there are too many complaints and it's likely that a high proportion are true. Non tolerance Women aren't by any means the only group that can face harassment. Therefore the American Atheists have decided on a policy aimed at protecting all participants and specifically several minorities are mentioned. PZ feels these rules are reasonable and consistent with civilized behavior. 2010 June 2010 The Woman Problem, a thread on Pharyngula in which women were asked to contribute suggestions to increase participation in atheist/skeptic movement activities. (Note: This post currently lacks comments due to the Natgeo switch, so the most important part of the thread has been lost.) 2011 June 2011 The beginning of Elevatorgate, the controversy centered on Rebecca Watson. 'Deep Rifts' Or 'The Humanity Of It All'... Part 1 is a post by blogger Suirauqa exhaustively documenting the major incidents of Elevatorgate. 2012 May 2012 The controversy over harassment policies begins, in the wake of comments by Jen McCreight about an informal network of women who communicate about harassment incidents involving male speakers. DJ Grothe, president of JREF, weighs in, and TAM spins off into its own controversy. In Medias Res: how to find the plot if you’re just tuning in is a post by Jason Thibeault at Lousy Canuck, advising people who are not fully informed about the controversy over harassment policies in how to get informed without irritating people who have been involved from the beginning. The comments contain further useful advice and links. Harassment policies campaign – timeline of major events from Lousy Canuck contains links to major blog posts in the controversy about the enactment of harassment policies at atheist/skeptic conferences. 2013 August 2013 What can I do over the Shermer issue? I know even less than PZ does about these rape allegations. I can't say what happened one way or the other, I'm just reporting what I've read. As of late August 2013 I'm not suggesting either way what's true. First a quote from PZ: Statistically overwhelmingly the majority of rape allegations are true, Fake rape?. Those that appear to be false are sometimes the result of pressure from authorities to deny a rape that actually happened I Am a False Rape Allegation Statistic or other psychological pressure on vulnerable rape victims. One Reason Why False Rape Allegation Statistics Are So High Jason Thibeault is strongly strongly critical of those who think PZ should have kept silent. Greta Christina comments that an unnamed informant is different from an anonymous source and cites the source, unnamed till years later, Deep Throat who provided reliable information about the Watergate scandal. Mark Felt a.k.a "Deep Throat" Christina notes a series of complaints from women, some giving their names, some anonymous against this Michael Shermer. Protests range from sexual assault through to sexual advances which though legal were unpleasant and unwanted and Christina suspects a pattern to this. Brian Thompson formerly of the James Randi Educational Foundation agrees there is a problem with Shermer. Richard Carrier thinks Shermer is selfish and has a thoroughly low opinion of the f***er very nice guy. #Has Shermer done "nothing wrong--legally or morally" as he himself states in the webpage asking for donations to his legal fund? Michael Shermer Legal Fund Michael Shermer’s Note on the Legal Fund #Can Shermer explain to us why he contradicts what Carrier and Christina both write about him? #Alternatively can Shermer explain what his personal moral standards are? Can he explain why feels the unpleasant behavior Carrier and Christina both accuse him of was not morally wrong? The law There was an attempt to silence PZ. http://www.atheistrev.com/2013/08/shermer-sends-cease-and-desist-letter.html#ixzz2bxenT6c6 Shermer hasn't asked for legal funds but is getting them. I’m Just a Member of the Community So will there be legal fireworks? We don't know yet. At least if this comes to court there's a chance we'll find out more one way or the other as to what really happened. Shermer suddenly claimed he knows who the accuser is though later he tried to backtrack. #So was the allegation a total shock to Shermer as he claimed in the legal letter? Demand for Cease and Desist and for Retraction #Alternatively does Shermer know his accuser as suggested in the Loftus blog? All this could be the undoing of any legal action. If the court accepts that Shermer knows an accuser the court will also accept PZ reported truthfully that someone accused Shermer of this heinous act. We don't know what will happen next. Still after Shermer's apparent admission and backtrack the whole thing could fizzle out. If there are no legal fireworks those who contributed and are still contributing to Shermer's legal fund could be deeply disappointed. What should we do? What do you do when someone pulls the pin and hands you a grenade? Well one thing you don't do is try to brush rape allegations under the carpet, serious accusations merit thorough investigation. We need to make it clear that the skeptical community isn't a safe place for those who abuse women. PZ Myers claims others in the skeptical movement are guilty of denial and cover up over sexual exploitation of women. Painfully close to the truth Greta Christina plans action when she knows more, see Processing: The Sexual Harassment And Abuse Floodgates In General… And CFI In Particular (UPDATED AND CORRECTED) We should be better than those who do wrong in the name of religion. We should learn from the Roman Catholic child abuse scandal. Covering up the problem just made it worse, priests tempted to harm children had little incentive to exercise self control and men tempted to harm children had little incentive to avoid the priesthood. Then when finally the scandal couldn't be contained a great many high ranking Roman Catholics who weren't themselves child molesters were blamed (rightly) for allowing abuse to continue. We shouldn't allow abuse of adult women, in the same way the Roman Catholics shouldn't have allowed child abuse. #We can't prevent it that there are allegations about serious abuse of women in our organisations though we don't yet know what proportion of allegations are true. #We can avoid being complicit in abuse and can avoid sweeping allegations of serious abuse under the carpet. PZ had a case for bringing this up, potential victims of someone who may be a serial rapist have been warned in a way that strives to safeguard the anonymity and safety of the woman who trusted him. Now let's not forget nothing has been proved against the guy to the standards of criminal courts. Convicted sex offender A convicted sex offender called Cecil Fuson caused problems for Rebecca Watson, this time we know because he's on the sex offenders, register. He clearly has a legitimate, vested interestGetting to Know My Critics: Cecil Fuson, Sex Offender Ophelia Benson supports Rebecca. Against – against against against We're getting to know the murkier parts of the Internet. September Since late August there have been few new developments over Michael Shermer and neither side has said very much new. Still Shermer's legal fund is getting donations. The fund will close on September 19th 2013. Drunken fantasies and more There's an accusation that after drinking DJ Grothe said Skepchicks, 'want pussy' and went on to fantasize about drugging and gang raping a man. The sexual harassment floodgate has opened, and I add my own trickleDJ and Me There is also an allegation that Grothe is holding up publication of potentially life-saving research on vaccine outreach because he is sensitive about the bad joke allegation. D.J. Grothe threatening legal action against WTinc For the time being readers will have to make do with a summary. A vaccination survey How does PZ feel about all this? One thing, he's is pleased he won't have to attend a lecture by Grothe on of all subjects, Secular ethics. Oh, those secular ethics Accusations were also made against Lawrence Krauss but as of September 2013 there is no clear evidence. More names are named. General A note to those who say they oppose sexism and misogyny in the atheist-skeptical movement, by Pharyngula regular SC (Salty Current), summarizes some common responses to the discussion of sexism and misogyny. See also *Crystal Clear Consent *Sexism Education 101 Link Dump References Category:Humanism Category:Equality Category:Article stubs Category:Rape Culture